Can a person use an electric motor from a golf cart, car, or motorcycle to power an airplane? I think its possible, but wouldn't know what brand of motor to get. Just trying some old fashion barnstorming. 

Definitely, the weight of Batteries necessary to power the electric motor!.... ...!

The same problem has always occurred in the past, in electric driven Motor Vehicles.

Too much weight!....too little distance!... ...!

...not to mention the enormous cost of the Batteries!

Paul...G-BPLF... ...!

http://www.flyer.co.uk/news/newsfeed.php?artnum=675

http://www.apame.eu/Projet06.html

You guys are thinking about this wrong.

Battery weight is not an issue.

All you need is a really long extension cord.

cheers,
Joe

ApplePie wrote on Mar 8^th, 2010 at 1:10pm:


...... ....>>>>>



...don't forget to unplug it before you go to bed......!

Paul...G-BPLF... ... ... ...!

Good evening all...

Just a thought but if submarines could operate on battery power for a good lenght of time then why not large aircraft?

There are many devices which could also charge the batteries while in the air such as a R.A.T. "Ram Air Turbine".
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/electronics/q0044c.shtml
 
I don't think electric motors or battery power should be ruled out just yet.

However there are other modes which could be used to take us away from fossil fuels unfortunately there has been Industrial Commercial and Government cover up on those.

It is like this question:
We have more oil in this country than the entire middle east and we are capping wells all the time, so why are we importing oil and paying the big price at the pumps? 
Turn the tables on the middle east and whatever their barrel of oil price is that will be what it is going to cost for the grain to make a loaf of bread.   

I do not think it is unreasonable to say that in the near future we will see large airships, blimps if you like replacing cargo ships at sea.  These could easily be operated on battery or electric power.
 
One Hundred (100) Years of aviation on this planet and it is still in it's infancy.   

Question:
  " Can a person use an electric motor from a golf cart, car, or motorcycle to power an airplane? I think its possible, but wouldn't know what brand of motor to get. Just trying some old fashion barnstorming". 

OldReliable I don't think I gave you the answer you were looking for but there is new technology every day and if it is not invented yet it probably will be.   



Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

http://yuneeccouk.site.securepod.com/Aircraft.html

Splinter562 wrote on Mar 9^th, 2010 at 1:48am:



Yeah, thats the one I was reading about.

The best solution to power alternative is having something require little to no power. About the only thing out there is solar energy. With companies like Yuneec making these electric aircraft; do you think they would offer to sell just the powerplant seperate from the airplane?

Quote:

Right. Overall, it's a matter of simple entropy, a law that has yet to be broken.

An airplane that charges itself as it flies (due to its movement, not solar or some onboard powerplant not involved in thrust)) is a perpetual motion machine... and even armchair engineers know that there ain't no such thing as a free lunch!

A RAT on an electric airplane would help in charging a separate system, for lights, radios, etc... but it would not be able to make a difference in the power/thrust/drag equation.

Energy storage (batteries) is the big problem right now, due to weight and space, but it's improving.
Lithium-ion packs are leading the way, and the next big idea- batteries that store latent energy using a gas instead of fluid, gel or metals... is being explored.

And electric planes are already flying...

The Yuneec is looking quite viable, for short flights, anyway, and Sonex is making good progress with the electric-powered version of their popular kitplane. And there are several self-launching gliders already that make good use of very modest electric-power systems.

It's too early to say "practical sustained electric flight is not possible because of weight!" ... remember, people said the same exact thing about the use of internal-combustion gasoline engines for heavier-than-air flying machines before that was proven wrong!!
and when you look at the first Wright Flyer, you see that it was couldn't perform much better (even putting aside the high-drag, antiquated design) than any electric airplane flying today. Less so, in fact. Its powerplant was pretty weak, and it could not carry much fuel at all.